Five are wounded at Newark housing complex

Five people were shot in a West Ward housing complex tonight, authorities said, bringing the number of people wounded in Newark by gunfire this week to 15.

Officers responded to a call at 9:07 p.m.at Georgia King Village, where they found three males and two females wounded, Newark Detective Hubert Henderson said. He said the victims range in age from 17 to 46, but he did not have further details about their identities.

Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerNewark police gather evidence tonight at the scene where five people were shot at Georgia King Village off of Bergen Street.

All five of the wounded were taken to University Hospital, where they were reported to be in stable condition, Henderson said.

The detective said police are investigating whether an argument led to the shootings. The person or people responsible are still at large.

Police initially were responding to a call that someone had been stabbed, but they arrived to find the five shooting victims instead. Henderson said officers found no evidence anyone had been stabbed.

Some residents of the complex, located blocks from University Hospital and made up mostly of clustered two-story brick units, peered from their windows as police taped off the dark alleyway near where the shootings occurred. Bullet casings were scattered on the pavement outside one of the buildings.

Google MapsGeorgia King Village in Newark, the scene of a quintuple shooting in the city

This was the third multiple shooting incident in the city in less than a week. Henderson said tonight's gunfire is not related to the previous shootings.

On Sunday night, three 18-year-old men were wounded in a shooting outside the historic Robert Treat Hotel on Park Place, less than a block from the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. The shootings occurred outside the ballroom where a late-night dance party was taking place.

Anyone with information about this or any other crimes is asked to call the Newark Police Department's 24-hour "Crime Stoppers" anonymous tip line at (877) NWK-TIPS, (877) 695-8477, or (877) NWK-GUNS, (877) 695-4867. Tips leading to arrests and indictments could result in cash rewards of up to $ 2,000 to the person who provides the information or $1,000 per gun for calls into the weapons hotline.